How baby was ‘born twice’ in ‘miracle’ birth
A baby in the US was remarkably 'born twice' after a life-saving surgery.
The appropriately named Lynlee Hope Boemer was officially born in June 2016, 13 weeks after seeing the world for the first time.
Some pretty incredible science meant that the US recently claimed the title of the 'world's oldest baby', thanks to an IVF treatment using an embryo that was created all the way back in 1994.
However, Lynlee is one of the only people in history who can claim to have been 'born twice', after scans revealed that she'd sadly developed a sacrococcygeal teratoma tumour within the womb.
Advert
The potentially fatal tumour was almost the same size as the unborn baby and was diverting blood from the foetus - increasing the risk of fatal heart failure.
So, when Lynlee was just 23 weeks old and weighing just 0.53kg, doctors at the Texas Children's Fetal Center decided to take her out of her mother Margaret's womb, so she could undergo surgery that would eventually save her life.
Margaret told CNN: "At 23 weeks, the tumour was shutting her heart down and causing her to go into cardiac failure, so it was a choice of allowing the tumour to take over her body or giving her a chance at life.
"It was an easy decision for us: We wanted to give her life."
Sacrococcygeal teratoma is a rare form of tumour seen in one out of 30,000 to 70,000 live births and Lynlee was given just a 50 percent chance of survival.
However, the surgery was a success, as despite the baby's heart almost stopping while she was left 'hanging in the air', most of the 'huge' tumour was removed and she was then placed back inside her mother's womb, with the uterus sewn back up.
She was then born again around 13 weeks later - via C-section - weighing in at 5lbs and 5oz on 6 June, after mum Margaret spent the remaining weeks of her pregnancy on bed rest.
The Texas mum had been expecting twins but had already lost one of the babies during the first trimester.
She wanted to do everything she could to save Lynlee, despite initially being recommended to terminate the pregnancy after being warned of the risks involved.
Lynleee had another surgery to remove the rest of the tumour from her tailbone at just eight days old and now nine years on, she is continuing to thrive.
Topics: US News
James Moorhouse